Democrats in the Senate are looking at an alternate option should their sweeping domestic policy bill not make it through Congress. The so-called "Plan C" would utilize parole, a status for illegal immigrants that would temporarily grant them legal protection from deportation and allow them to work safely within the United States. The parole status, which would be available to those living in the country since 2011, would last for five years, after which it would be renewable for another five years. Although the parole status would protect around 11 million immigrants, it does not provide a route to permanent residency and eventually citizenship. Immigration advocates, while open to the Plan C parole option, are still pushing for Democrats to pursue stronger legislation that would enable those 11 million immigrants to file for permanent residence within the US.
Source: Bloomberg Government; US News
https://about.bgov.com/news/immigrant-protections-short-of-path-to-citizenship-gain-traction/
https://www.usnews.com/news/politics/articles/2021-10-13/dems-consider-new-immigration-plan-for-domestic-policy-bill
Part of the congressional policy bill that Democratic legislators hope to push through would deal with the problem of unused Visas assigned to countries with smaller populations of immigrants seeking residence in the United States. The provision would take any green cards not used by the population of a particular country, and reassign them to countries that have already reached their annual quota of Visas, like India and China. This would help to alleviate the massive backlog of immigrants waiting for green cards, some of whom have been waiting for decades. Democrats argue that allowing the Visas to be used by those waiting will give a bump to the economy, rather than letting the Visas, which are already approved, go to waste. The reassignment of unused Visas would be retroactive; estimates show that around 5 million immigrants would be affected by the policy change. Another proposal in the bill would allow some prospective immigrants to bypass annual Visa quotas by paying large additional fees.
Source: Roll Call
https://www.rollcall.com/2021/10/13/green-card-recapture-effort-faces-uncertain-senate-future/
Alejandro Mayorkas, Security Secretary of the Department of Homeland Security, has issued a memorandum that will help to protect undocumented workers within the United States. The letter from Mayorkas instructs the agencies of US Customs and Border Protection, Immigration and Customs Enforcement, and US Citizenship and Immigration Services to, in the next two months, develop plans to protect witnesses and victims of workplace exploitation, labor trafficking, and other crimes from retaliation by employers or targeting by officials for deportation. The memo also stops raids by ICE on workplaces, shifting the focus of the agencies from individual workers to those companies that would take advantage of them.
Source: Time
https://time.com/6106554/biden-immigration-ice-workplace-raids/
The Biden administration plans to reinstate a Trump-era border policy after losing a legal battle in regards to its removal. The Migrant Protection Protocols, also known as the "Remain in Mexico Policy", forces those seeking asylum within the United States to stay in Mexico until their appointed court hearings with US Immigration. The Biden administration had originally removed the policy but was sued by Texas and Missouri over the removal, and has lost subsequent court battles regarding the policy, although the administration plans to continue fighting to have the right to remove it. In the policy's reinstatement, officials claim that migrants affected by the policy will have hearing dates within six months of their application, and plans to use 10 facilities within the Texas cities of Laredo and Brownsville to hold the hearings. Opponents of the policy cite the hundreds of violent crimes committed against migrants waiting in border camps for their hearings, including sexual assaults and kidnappings, in their urging for the courts to side with the Biden administration.
Source: CNN; NBC News
https://www.cnn.com/2021/10/15/politics/biden-us-mexico-border/index.html
https://www.nbcnews.com/politics/immigration/biden-admin-plans-restart-trump-s-remain-mexico-policy-border-n1281580
A number of men from African countries have filed a complaint against the Immigration and Customs Enforcement agency, claiming that they were tortured with a device known as The WRAP before their deportation back to their home countries. The WRAP, the device in question, was created with the intent of safely restraining someone in a sitting position or a slight lean backwards. One of the men in the complaint states that The WRAP was used in a method not intended in its design, and that he was held for hours with his body bent forwards in a sharp angle, restricting his ability to breathe, despite his telling officials of his asthma. Another man was struck with rubber bullets and put into the device after he was informed that he would be deported back to his home country of Cameroon. The men, before being put into The WRAP, were already restrained by chains connecting their waists and limbs. The complaint not only accuses officials of torture due to their treatment of these men but, because only men from African nations were targeted, the officials are accused of racism as well.
Source: The San Diego Union-Tribune
https://www.sandiegouniontribune.com/news/immigration/story/2021-10-13/ice-torture-asylum-seeker-deportation